Ageing and intercultural dimensions of care: community learning and inclusive society

Migration is a constituent element of the European context and in this paper we will analyze the Italian case and the connections between the labor market of care and assistance to elderly people. This phenomenon has an international dimension (León 2014) because it intercepts the routes of migrant women from Eastern Europe and triggers the creation of new family structures (Degiuli 2016; Lyon 2006). From a perspective based on finding ways to avoid generating exclusion and privatization processes by socio-economic context (Skornia 2014), we will analyze in-depth a community learning process that affects the elderly and their families, the care-workers and the transnational dimension, the local contexts and socio-health services. The participatory learning approach aims to create community bonds and social cohesion and to support intergenerational and intercultural citizenship (Deluigi et al. eds 2015; Newman, Tonkens 2011). Beyond the stereotypical images of migrants, often associated with threat and danger, we will highlight the various aspects of a cooperative coexistence, considering living together in inclusive societies as a challenge and a goal (United Nations 2016). Multicultural environments can choose intercultural dialogue as “an engine” of active citizenship and community learning (Packham 2008; Zepke 2013a). Education could be a stimulator of recognition and promotion of best practices in local home-care as a way of reflection and action. The transition from a “welfarism” culture of care to an eco-systemic home-care culture accepts the challenge of an open learning society, attentive to stories of migration between identity, intergenerational alliances and bearers of cultures.